Pentagon bars journalists from classified press office (opens in new tab)

The Defense Department barred journalists from entering the Pentagon press office after redesignating the space as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF. Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said the department made the change because speechwriters from the office the administration refers to as the Office of the Secretary of War now share the space, routinely handle classified material and require SIPRNet access. Valdez wrote on X that there was “nothing controversia...